Expert explains why Putin needs a protracted war

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin needs a long, gruelling war to stay in office longer. This was said by a long-time Russian political scientist and publicist living in Washington, Andrey Piontkovsky, on the air of the Espresso TV channel.

The expert recalled that in his address to the Federal Assembly Putin proposed to send people from the front every six months on leave for 24 days, which, according to Piontkovsky, could indicate that he is considering the option of a long war.

He wants to maintain such a drawn-out positional war which would preserve his power, so there would be no outright defeat for him," Piontkovsky explained the significance of such a proposal.

Besides, according to the political scientist, even the Kremlin propagandist Solovyov has already started voicing narratives about a possible "local" success for Ukraine during a counterattack, which "will not decide the outcome of the war.

That is to say, again, that the situation will stabilize and it will be a prolonged conflict of attrition," the expert clarified.

Piontkovsky also drew attention to the introduction of an electronic register of the military conscripts and stressed that in this way Putin, without formally announcing it, introduced martial law in the country by entering information about 30m military conscripts into the database.